Master Traffic Plan Entering New Stage

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30125, 8 May 1963, Page 8

Master Traffic Plan Entering New Stage

Staff had been called for, with applications closing on June 10, to advance the master transport plan for metropolitan Christchurch to its second stage—detailed planning of the broad proposals—the chairman (Mr E. J. Bradshaw) told the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority yesterday.

Before the authority was a summary of the correspondence, including objections to, approval of and alternatives to the plan, which Mr Bradshaw emphasised had been in broad outline only. He said he was disappointed with the quality of the comments, as they showed that many persons and authorities had not really studied the plan.

Discussing the comments received, Mr Bradshaw said: “In the highest at places the plan has not been read and understood to the extent it should have been. To understand the concept of the plan requires not only reading, but concentration of a high order. Many people who should have made a particular study of the plan nave not been able to do so, and many of the criticisms have been based on false grounds.” There had been a tendency to pick out one specific feature of the plan and criiticise it without relating th'at feature to the plan as a whole, he continued. Such I criticisms and comments must be wrongly based. Then there was criticism based on questioning the authority's estimate of the traffic growth by 1980. K the estimate was out, then it was certain that the growth would eventually come shortly after 1980, and Christchurch would have a few more years of grace. “We should plan now to avoid extensive and expensive improvisations which would become unavoidable if we allowed the traffic problem to creep up on us,” he said. “Not Just Motorists” There was some criticism that the plan was designed to help the motorist who wanted to speed from one place to another, Mr Bradshaw said, but nothing could be further from the truth. Clogged roads affected every citizen in every walk of life. “If Christchurch is to be

kept a functional city and a city of beauty, we have to keep on top of the motor vehicle and not allow the motor vehicle to become our master,’.’ he said. Discussing the comments in general, Mr Bradshaw said ne had been fearful that the publication of the broad outline plan could have led to a depression of property values along the proposed routes, as had happened when the original northern motorway proposals had been published. This had not happened, and the newspapers had contributed towards the result by publishing informative articles and full discussions of meetings showing that it was only at the geometric stage of the plan that it could be shown where any road would go and what properties were likely to be affected. Mr Bradshaw welcomed the offers of assistance from architects, engineers and a group of professional persons banded to discuss the plan, and said he was sure the authority would call on their help. There was neither the time

nor the staff at present to deal with the comments and letters, Mr Bradshaw said. As soon as the staff was recruited it would analyse the comments, and in some cases detailed traffic assignments would be required to test the alternatives. State Subsidy To Mr G. D. Griffiths, Mr Bradshaw said the Ministry of Works had indicated that it supported the authority as the body to undertake the next stage of the plan, and would give a 30 per cent, subsidy of the cost. Mr T. D. Flint said he was inclined to think that the authority had heard from a vociferous minority and a few irresponsible persons who had criticised the plan seeking publicity. As well as the comments of local bodies which have been reported in the newspapers and of the City Planning Study Group, which had a series of articles in the press, the objections and comments included many individual letters. Among them were suggestions that the plan favoured the motorist too much, with insufficient consideration for the pedestrian and cyclist: that adequate provision had not been made for public transport; that there should not be a new road through Latimer square; and that free public transport be introduced as a means of reducing the number of cars travelling on city streets.